First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 4 December 2025.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
Liberal Democrat
I am sorry to say that the First Minister has had his head completely in the sand about the crisis in our NHS. Everybody knows somebody who has been let down. Anas Sarwar rightly talks about the human cost; let me tell the First Minister what that looks like.
Isobel and Martyn Knights were travelling down the dual carriageway near Aberdeen when Isobel had a violent seizure and stopped breathing. With nowhere to pull over, Martyn had to use every ounce of his police training to get her heart going again while the car was still moving. The car screeched to a halt at the front door of the accident and emergency department and Martyn explained to staff what had happened. However, after moving their car, Martyn was not allowed to return to Isobel’s side; A and E was just too busy. She was left alone in a corridor for six hours—remember, her heart had only just been restarted. When she was eventually seen by a doctor, it was obvious that that crucial information had been overlooked. If someone can turn up at accident and emergency after having stopped breathing for minutes and not be seen for hours, what does that say about the state of our NHS?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
First, I am very sorry to hear of the details of the experience of Isobel and Martyn Knights. I am happy to explore the exact circumstances of the case that Mr Cole-Hamilton has put to me. The purpose and focus of accident and emergency is to provide immediate Intervention for those who are in the gravest of conditions, and it is my expectation that that should happen in all circumstances.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
Liberal Democrat
Martyn and Isobel are absolutely clear: they are not having a go at the hard-working staff who looked exhausted that day in A and E. Emergency departments are backed up because hospitals are rammed and because there are so many people who are stuck there who should be in care homes or being looked after at home. That is what the Auditor General told us this morning.
Let us put it into perspective: when the Scottish National Party first came into power, in a single month, only a handful of people ever waited more than 12 hours in accident and emergency—it hardly ever happened. Despite the best efforts of staff, the figure has increased by 63,000 per cent. Does the experience of Isobel and Martyn not show how mistakes can be made and patients can be put in danger because accident and emergency is overwhelmed on the SNP’s watch?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
A range of different factors will affect the circumstances in any accident and emergency department at any given time. Some of them will be about whole-system challenges, such as delayed discharge, where hospitals are so congested that it is difficult to ensure that patients can be transferred from A and E into routine wards in a timely manner. We work with local authority partners to ensure that we further reduce delayed discharge in order to support accident and emergency, and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is actively pursuing that on my behalf this week.
The second issue is the case load that presents at A and E. In that respect, we have taken forward work to put in place frailty units that will enable us to support frail patients more actively and in a more supportive environment than the mainstream of A and E, where there can be some acute and challenging circumstances.
The third factor is the prevalence of individual health conditions. As members of the Parliament will know, we are seeing an early and significant upsurge in the prevalence of flu, which is resulting in significant presentations at our hospitals. Indeed, in the past two weeks, there has been an increase of 70 per cent in flu admissions to hospital as a consequence of the gravity of the condition, despite the high performance of flu vaccinations that are currently under way.
The Government is taking forward a range of interventions to ensure that we are working to reduce demand in A and E services, so that individuals such as Isabel and Martin Knights can be supported in the way that I would expect them to be.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
